9 137 HEXTOBIN

9.137 HEXTOBIN

Þ Note: Built-In Function Rules.

Converts the alphanumeric source string to its binary format. Each pair of characters in the source will be converted into its binary equivalent.

The source string should contain only characters 0-9, A-F. Any invalid characters will be treated as zero and an error status returned. The source string must be a multiple of two in length.

For example, source contains alphanumeric string C1C2 (IBM i) 4142 (Windows), Return is AB

For use with

LANSA for i YES Visual LANSA for Windows YES Visual LANSA for Linux YES

 

Arguments

No Type Req/ Opt Description Min Len Max Len Min Dec Max Dec 1 A Req Source: Must contain only characters 0-9, A-F Must be a multiple of 2 in length. 2 Unlimited     2 A Opt Y = Return true binary value. N = (Default) Return "string like" binary value. The first NULL byte in the return will be the terminator of the string. 1 1

 

Return Values

No Type Req/ Opt Description Min Len Max Len Min Dec Max Dec 1 w Req Returned binary value 1 Unlimited     2 A Opt Return code. OK = action completed. ER = An error occurred. 2 2

 

Technical Note

If 'Y' is specified for the second argument, use a Binary ( or Alpha ) field to get the returned value. Any other field type may cause the returned value to be truncated or unusable.

Example:

FUNCTION OPTIONS(*DIRECT)
DEFINE FIELD(#MYHEX) TYPE(*CHAR) LENGTH(100)
DEFINE FIELD(#MYHEX2) TYPE(*CHAR) LENGTH(100)
DEFINE FIELD(#MYRET) TYPE(*CHAR) LENGTH(2)
DEFINE FIELD(#MYLEN) TYPE(*DEC) LENGTH(3) DECIMALS(0)
 
CHANGE FIELD(#MYHEX) TO('''414D5120414D5359443337202020002044B826A420C12563''')
 
USE BUILTIN(HEXTOBIN) WITH_ARGS(#MYHEX 'Y') TO_GET(#MYBIN #MYRET)       (1)
CHANGE FIELD(#MYLEN) TO('24')                                           (3)
USE BUILTIN(BINTOHEX) WITH_ARGS(#MYBIN #MYLEN) TO_GET(#MYHEX2 #MYRET)   (2)
RETURN
 

If #MYBIN is a Binary (or Alpha) field and is equal to or greater than 24 bytes, the BINTOHEX in (2) will return #MYHEX2 with same value as #MYHEX has. The value in #MYRET is 'OK'

If  #MYBIN is a String, the BINTOHEX in (2) will return nothing to #MYHEX2 and the value in #MYRET will be 'ER'.

Reason: Although the HEXTOBIN in (1) is instructed to return true binary value, the String nature of #MYBIN in this case will prevent it holding the full result. In fact  #MYBIN will only get the binary form of '414D5120414D5359443337202020' as the  next '00' is considered as a string terminator. So for the BINTOHEX in (2) #MYBIN has only 14 bytes, which is shorter than the 24 bytes expected.